Robot Chicken returns with a spoof on DC Comics. Who did we get to review this? Zechs? Uh oh...

Robot Chicken kicks off their Sixth Season with a special spoofing the characters of DC Comics. No character is spared in this spoof. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern, and yes poor poor Aquaman get the lampooning they deserve by the hands of the people behind Robot Chicken. An added bonus with this episode is that it is co-written by DC head honcho Geoff Johns.

As is the norm with Robot Chicken, you're thrown a barrage of jokes every second. You won't like some, you'll laugh at some, and some will go over your head. That's the usual cycle Robot Chicken has and a second viewing is always a good thing so as to catch the jokes you missed or to notice something new. Anyway the jokes were good for the most part. The best of them being for me involving Bane breaking Batman's back, the Riddler and Two-Face going to the bathroom, the ice hero/villains, Alfred Molina voicing Lex Luthor (he sooooo needs to voice Lex again), and Hal Jordan being a dick.

If there was anything to deter me from watching the episode, it was that was the Geoff Johns-isms were abundant. What are the Geoff Johns-isms? They're recurring themes one notices in all his DC works, namely: Hal Jordan being frequent in the episode (even if he got ripped a new one), Cyborg shoe-horned into the darn show (Why did they use his New 52 DC Direct Action Figure? What no Super Powers Action figure was available?), a Stargirl cameo, use of the Flash Rogues (though always a good thing), and Sinestro stealing the show. I know it's my inner fan boy nitpicking this, but it's just so Johns though. Anytime I see these little “isms” of his I already know which one he probably had a hand in this. Think outside the barrier Johns! The world doesn't have to revolve around all your pets!

If there was one element that also didn't surprise me it was how much Aquaman got ripped to shreds in this special. Any badassery or good character moments Aquaman had in the New 52 written by Johns? Say good-bye to them with the return of puny joke hero Aquaman! Yes, I know the character is an easy target made fun of numerously by Family Guy and Robot Chicken in the past. It's just that I almost thought they would give the character a break here. I found the sheer amount of Aquaman mockery was a bit much. If they were trying to paint Aquaman in a negative light, it worked and reinforced him being the stupid hero. I was hoping for more non-Aquaman related material though.

Therein lies the great problem with the special. DC is just ripe with comedy material. The special felt “safe” and “collared” with the only jokes used being ones everyone would know or ones that wouldn't anger DC. Yes, there were some DC fans could enjoy: ICE AND BOOSTER GOLD CAMEOES, Captain Cold taking Black Manta's Legion of Doom spot, Bizzaro crying, and DC Heroes You Won't Believe Exist (MR. BANJO!!!). I wanted or expected to see some jokes we haven't seen done on Robot Chicken or on DC before such as Young Justice, Superboy Prime, and the Legion of Superheroes. Just something other than the Superfriends/Super Powers spoofs which are just too easy to make fun of. Seeing them done again felt like the well of spoofing the Superfriends just runs utterly dry now.

I digress. I still laughed at the “easy” jokes. They're jokes to you can't help but chuckle at. It's just that I expected more given the hype for this special at the various conventions. I anticipated something unpredictable such as the special starting with them going to spoof Aquaman and instead him kicking ass with all the heroes to be wide eyed and never wanting to make fun of him again. We didn't get that. What we got instead with this special was just safe amusing jokes. If there's a sequel to this special maybe they'll go with those stronger braver jokes. Until then this was just an amusing thirty minute special. Nothing totally memorable happened, just something to waste thirty minutes and be entertained by.

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About the Author - Zechs

Zechs is the lord and master of The Toy Shed, Character Spotlight, and Cartoon Reviews. He's also an aspiring comic book writer trying to get some of his works published on the Outhouse. If there's any greater quality to Zechs, it's that he's an avid fan of comic book characters and would defend them to the bitter end against the companies that use them wrongly. Zechs walks the lonely path in Chicagoland area.